Breaking Free of the Clouds
by Azusasan
Summary: CharonFlora fluff. Both Charon and Flora decide to take a walk in a mist that gradually becomes a rain, but despite the chill, some warmth may come through, just as the sun breaks through the clouds. One shot.


[ - breaking free of the clouds - ]  
  
[ * ]  
  
a.n.: the one shot I talked about in the last portion of my bio... meh... a short charon / flora fic I whipped up for no particular reason... probably won't come out good, but maybe someone will like it, for some abnormal reason... ^-~; I have a strange urge to write something karst related... hummm...  
  
and -- rejoice, it's a non-yaoi/yuri fic for once! hoo ha...  
  
yeah, I took special care to make the format and everythin' look purty...   
  
[ * ]  
  
* it is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun. * ~ longfellow  
  
[ * ]  
  
Rain.  
  
Rain itself was not a totally unpleasant thing...  
  
...but being caught in it...  
  
Was so severely unpleasant, it made her wonder why she was out here to begin with.  
  
/Something's seriously wrong with me,/ Flora thought unhappily to herself, twirling the black umbrella over her head dismally. /Deciding to come out and look at the garden in the rain... Nereid's right, I have cracked./  
  
The day had started off with a fine, foggy mist covering the ground. As the morning wore on, it steadily rose, to the point the trees appeared to have been taken out of a fairytale story -- they looked so magnificent covered by a silver veil. And Flora, being the odd one that she was, had decided a late-morning walk through the garden in the mist would be a most breathtaking thing...  
  
/It -is- breathtaking.../ Flora glanced up, hoping for a break in the clouds. /The air is so chilly, I can't breathe at all.../  
  
Eventually, that fine, sparkling mist became a soft, pitter-pattering rain that Flora hadn't minded that much. Until it became harder, to the point her violet hair was pressed flat against her head, goosebumps rose on her fair skin, and she was shuddering violently. Although she had forgotten -- or neglected -- to bring a coat, Flora did remember an umbrella.  
  
It wasn't much, but it kept the rain away, somewhat.  
  
/I am -such- an idiot.../ The wind rider criticized herself, biting her lower lip to keep her teeth from chattering. /Walks in the mist, why I never -- /  
  
"Excuse me! Flora, is that you?"  
  
She inhaled sharply, her adrenaline rushing. Who would be as stupid as her to be out in this rain? Looking around cautiously, Flora spotted a lone figure under a tree. She would have thought it was Iris, except for the fact Iris didn't wear such clothes, and the goddess certainly knew her superior would never sound like a man, even on her sick days.  
  
"Charon?" Flora called back, weakly. "What are you doing out here?"  
  
"I could ask the same of yourself..." He said, smiling despite the weather and his apparent wetness. "I was taking a morning stroll, and I got caught in the rain. So I stopped under this tree, hoping for either the clouds to break, or someone else -- who was as crazy as I was -- to walk by."  
  
...Life, even for gods, was ironic, wasn't it?  
  
"That's what happened to me, only I had an umbrella." Flora glanced at him under her lowered eyelids, taking in the god's somewhat feminine figure. It was no wonder he was oftenly mistaken for Iris... He had beauty that rivalled all of the other goddesses...  
  
/What am I thinking.../ Flora frowned, but quickly hid it. /He's not... -beautiful-. That's a term you only tend to use with women.../  
  
Of course, by 'women' she meant goddesses -- competent goddesses. Iris occasionally called her incompetent. She knew Iris meant it only as an insult to drive herself to improve her power, but sometimes... Well, she couldn't help it if she wasn't as pretty as Megaera, or Coatlicue, or Iris herself. Flora was a tomboy by nature -- always out in the trees, avoiding dances, ignorant of the other gods. She hated her short hair, her too-pale skin, her scratched legs (From climbing trees). The wind rider -was- incompetent...  
  
"Flora, are you going to offer me your umbrella, or will I have to stand out here for another undetermined amount of time?"  
  
The violet-haired goddess blinked rapidly, heat rushing to her cheeks even in the icy cold. She stepped closer, holding out the umbrella slightly. Charon stepped out from the protection of the tree, moving underneath the umbrella.  
  
"Here, let me..." Charon murmured, plucking the umbrella from her grasp and holding it in his right hand. Flora protested, but when it was obviously apparent he would not give it back, she quieted, and settled for walking beside him quietly.  
  
Flora's thoughts were still rushing -- /But he's too... too... -pretty- to call handsome. I mean, his figure is that of a woman's, without the distinct curves. Yet he has a handsome face... Wait a second, am I calling him handsome? Of course he isn't! I -- I mean he is, but... well.../  
  
To say in the least, her emotions were a jumbled mess.  
  
The wind rider sighed, wrapping her cold palms around her even chillier arms, shrugging her scarves a bit closer. Her head was hurting from both the cold and the tumultuous thoughts that ravaged her mind. Could Charon be labelled 'beautiful' or 'handsome'? He was a man, so it only made sense to call him handsome -- but he had the grace and the figure to pass as a woman, thus making him 'beautiful.'  
  
/Why do I even care now? I didn't notice him that much before.../  
  
"Are you cold?"  
  
Once again, his voice broke through her sea of speculations. Flora looked up at him quickly, opening her mouth to say 'No,' but Charon had an arm around her already, snuggling her to him and the surprising warmth he radiated. She thought about struggling, but the heat was too pleasant, and dropping her arms, she leaned against him, closing her eyes.  
  
/I feel the warmth that comes from his body, yes... That's too obvious to miss. But his hand on my arm... It's warm, too, but it has a different kind of warmth... Like... oh, like the warmth in the eyes of those humans when they see someone they love intimately. I shouldn't deny it any more...  
  
I...  
  
I am falling for him...  
  
...somehow.../  
  
"You feel like a block of ice, Flora," Charon commented dryly, moving his hand on her arm up and down. "How long have you been out here?"  
  
"Only an hour or two..."  
  
"You should wear thicker clothes. ...Not that I don't like the way you dress now..."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Did that... not come out right?"  
  
"You just sounded like a hormone-strung Ramses, that's all... He enjoys seeing me walk around in these."  
  
"But he doesn't have anything particularly -deeper- for you, does he? Besides lust, I mean?"  
  
Flora's cheeks instantly flared at hearing the word 'lust' come out of Charon's mouth so easily. Looking away from him for the first time in a few minutes, she tried to think of a decent answer.  
  
"I... I should hope not..."  
  
"Well, that's good, considering -- oh, look! The sun's finally coming out!"  
  
"It is?" Flora peeked out from underneath the umbrella, and indeed, the golden sun (a.n.: ha... xp) had broken through the barrier of clouds. The rain slackened around them.  
  
"Flora..." Charon turned to her, lowering the umbrella. "...What would you say to a dance in these last few minutes of rain?"  
  
She didn't know how a 'yes' managed to slip past her lips, but she found herself twirling in the arms of the boatsman, feeling a pleasant sort of dizzy. She was disappointed when they stilled, as the rain came to a complete end with their dance.  
  
Charon cradled her in his arms, one hand curled in her short purple locks. He rested his chin on her shoulder, and she absent-mindedly ran her hands through his extravagant, long violet hair. It was damp from the rain. As it fell through her fingers, it reminded her of a waterfall -- better yet, rain...  
  
"Charon?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What were you saying... before? Right before you told me that the sun was coming out?"  
  
"That... It's a good thing Ramses doesn't love you... I don't need competition."  
  
Her eyes widened.  
  
"Charon. . ."  
  
The rain could come and go as it pleased. Nothing could dampen her day -now- .  
  
[ * ]  
  
o w a r i ~  
  
[ * ]  
  
...whee... does anybody understand the meaning of the title? it doesn't actually mean the literal act of the sun breaking free of the clouds... it's based more on the charon / flora-ness... ^_^ it's my new favorite hetero couple, besides hiei / botan... (I hate kurama / hiei.... I like different things, you peeps know that. ^_~)  
  
kekeke... felix-kun is happy I didn't write something else on him...  
  
[Felix: She finally wrote something hetero again! *Waves flags and blows a trumpet*]  
  
...yeah... rrrright.  
  
review, it makes my day sunny, too. ^^  
  
[Taylor: That was so tacky...]  
  
...shut up, baka. 


End file.
